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French Red Cross joins French IPPNW to press government on ban treaty

For the first time in France, on Thursday, January 25, the French Red Cross (CRF) organized a panel discussion at its headquarters in Paris on the issue of the Nuclear Weapons ban treaty (NWBT).

Kathleen Lawand, the legal advisor and head of the arms unit at theInternational Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), joined Drs. PatriceRichard and Abraham Behar of IPPNW’s French affiliate and Jean MarieColin of Initiatives for Nuclear Disarmament (IDN). Ms. Lawand recalledthe ICRC’s constant struggle for the abolition of nuclear weaponssince 1945. She explained that the humanitarian consequences of nuclearweapons and nuclear war, and the disproportionate nature of the nuclearthreat were her reasons for supporting the Ban Treaty.

Drs. Richard and Behar told participating representatives of theMinistry of Foreign Affairs that they “lamented the relentlessness of[the French] government against the Treaty and the obsolete attachmentto nuclear deterrence.”

The meeting was a prelude to a campaign in favor of the Treaty that theFrench Red Cross will implement throughout the country, with the fullsupport of IPPNW France.

“We have proposed a day of action in Paris, which will involve allhealth organizations, in order to explain how the Ban Treaty is a vitalstep towards the abolition of nuclear weapons, and to lay out thehumanitarian and public health consequences of an atomic attack oraccident,” Dr. Behar said.

He added that this is the “very concrete start to the fight for thesignature and ratification of the Treaty by all states, includingnuclear states like ours, or nuclear-dependent states” elsewhere inEurope.